Wired in Japan: Asking "how to say" in Japanese

9.18.2009

Today in Japanese class our sensei introduced us to a handy phrase, giving us the ability to ask how to say something, that we don't already know, in Japanese.

__ はにほんごでなんといいますか。
__ wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do I say __ in Japanese?

Q:
Glassesはにほんごでなんといいますか。
Glasses wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do you say Glasses in Japanese?

A:
めがねいいます。
megane iimasu.
You say megane.

This phrase is handy, especially when talking to a teacher, because they are able to take your english request and parse it into Japanese.

When in Japan, I know I will be using this phrase all the time, but my Japanese host family probably wont understand English. Thus this helpful modification is appropriate:

Q:
これはにほんごでなんといいますか。
kore wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
What is this called in Japanese?

A:
それはほんです。
sore wa hon desu.
That's a book.

The next time you're not sure how to say a word in Japanese, don't be afraid to ask. Just us this valuable phrase.

Comments (12)

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anuan · 809 weeks ago

Thanks for that info and sharing. I so needed that. That will be my phrase for next week.

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Will · 809 weeks ago

just wondering, can't you also put a て or って何　after a noun to ask what something is also?

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A.M. · 808 weeks ago

thanks for the help! Do you know your grammar very well? i always have problems with that.

1 reply · active 808 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 808 weeks ago

You are not the only one. I have only picked up various grammatical rules here and there. Advanced sentence structures are out of my league. Please bare with me.

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kotoba · 807 weeks ago

>めがねいいます。
>megane iimasu.
>You say megane.

You need to add 「と」after 「めがね」.
→「めがねと　いいます。」
(megane to iimasu.)

「めがねです。」 would be another perfect answer, just like your next example. Of course, the target of this column was how to ask, so this may not be very important, though.

1 reply · active 806 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 806 weeks ago

Thank you for the information Kotobasan.
It is very helpful to get feedback, as i am just beginning to learn the language.